Things You Gotta Know
House Science Leaders Introduce the Bipartisan American Leadership in Fusion Act to Put $10 Billion Behind Fusion Commercialization
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Research and Technology Subcommittee Chair Jay Obernolte (R-CA) introduced the American Leadership in Fusion Act, which would provide $10 billion in direct investments to accelerate the commercialization of fusion energy. The bill allocates $3.8 billion to build major new test facilities for fusion materials and fuel cycle challenges, $3 billion in forward funding for a new milestone-based demonstration program, and $2 billion for the existing Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, plus $800 million for materials and fuel cycle research, $300 million for small and mid-sized test facilities tied to the 2026 DOE Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap, and $100 million to build supply chains for critical fusion technologies. Representatives Lori Trahan (D-MA), co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Fusion Energy Caucus, Don Beyer (D-VA), and James Gallagher (R-CA) are co-sponsors. The Fusion Industry Association, which called late last year for a one-time $10 billion injection of public capital into partnerships with the private fusion industry, has endorsed the bill along with Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
nT-Tao and Orion Nuclear Energy Sign MoU to Bring 20 MW Compact Fusion Power to U.S. Data Centers and Critical Infrastructure
Israeli compact fusion company nT-Tao and Orion Nuclear Energy Corporation, a U.S. developer of advanced nuclear power projects, announced a strategic collaboration under a Memorandum of Understanding to identify, evaluate, and develop U.S. deployment opportunities for nT-Tao’s Compact Fusion System, an on-site system designed to deliver up to 20 megawatts of continuous electricity from a footprint small enough to sit at a customer’s own facility. Orion will serve as U.S. project development and commercialization partner, identifying customers and power offtakers, evaluating sites, structuring financing, and engaging utilities, infrastructure providers, and regulators, while nT-Tao contributes system design, performance data, and its development roadmap. Orion Chairman and CEO John Aycoth said Orion is already siting advanced nuclear projects alongside data centers and industrial loads across six states, and that a 20 MW system fills the gap between microreactors in the one to ten megawatt range and utility-scale SMRs that start well above fifty. The system is built on nT-Tao’s MEGA pulsed-power platform; its C3 prototype achieved first plasma earlier this year and was recently upgraded with a 50 MW pulsed-power subsystem. The companies plan to identify a limited number of initial U.S. opportunities for further evaluation.
ENN Breaks Ground on Helong-2, a Hydrogen-Boron Fusion Platform Targeting First Fusion Electricity in 2030
China’s ENN Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for Helong-2, its Spherical Ring Hydrogen-Boron Plasma Platform, at the group’s fusion R&D center in the Langfang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Hebei Province. Built by China Construction First Group Construction and Development Company, the project comprises more than ten core systems and is expected to be ready for equipment installation by the end of June 2027, with construction and commissioning complete and experiments under way by the end of 2027. Helong-2 is ENN’s third-generation device after Xuanlong-50 and Xuanlong-50U, and it anchors a three-step commercialization plan: achieve a hydrogen-boron fusion reaction on Xuanlong-50U in 2026, generate the first hydrogen-boron fusion electricity on Helong-2 in 2030, and reach low-cost generation and a demonstration reactor stage before 2035. ENN Chairman Yu Jianchao called Helong-2 a key engineering platform on the path to a fusion smart power plant. Hydrogen-boron, or proton-boron, fusion produces helium nuclei rather than high-energy neutrons, an approach also pursued by TAE Technologies in the U.S. and Marvel Fusion in Germany.
Proxima Fusion and Lower Saxony Plan Europe’s First Large-Scale Fusion-Grade HTS Tape Factory
Munich stellarator developer Proxima Fusion and the German State of Lower Saxony signed a memorandum of understanding to build Europe’s first large-scale production facility for fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape. Around €140 million in investment is planned for the first two project phases running through the end of 2029, to be financed equally through private capital and public funding, with Lower Saxony contributing €21 million, just under 30 percent of the proposed public share. The agreement covers site assessment, a milestone-based support and funding structure, permitting, and partnerships with companies, municipalities, and research institutions across the state. Proxima expects to need about 20,000 kilometers of HTS tape for its Alpha demonstrator and a further 40,000 kilometers for its Stellaris power plant, and says it is in discussions with several international partners about bringing established HTS manufacturing expertise to Lower Saxony. HTS tape is currently manufactured at industrial scale primarily in Asia, and the plant would also serve grid, medical imaging, and other high-field magnet applications.
People Skill Crossovers Are of Massive Benefit To The Commercial Fusion Energy Industry
Commercial fusion companies have traditionally hired from the outside and then integrated new workers into the fusion mindset, but some are now recruiting from other industries specifically for their skills and thinking. Inertia’s hiring of Sam Crisafulli as Chief Systems Engineer, after 29 years of senior and executive experience including 12 years with ASML’s Plasma Generation and Energy Control Group, is one example. The Fusion Report outlines six adjacent industries whose skills transfer well to fusion: semiconductor manufacturing and lithography, aerospace and defense, fission, chemical processing, and LNG, electric utilities and grid equipment, advanced manufacturing and precision fabrication, and construction and major-project delivery. Systems engineering stands out as the most valuable crossover capability. The article argues that a successful commercial fusion company should end up looking more like an OEM such as GE Vernova, Siemens Energy, or Mitsubishi Power than a Department of Energy national laboratory.
What Does Elon Musk Think About The Future Of Commercial Fusion Energy?
Elon Musk has argued that commercial fusion reactors will be extremely expensive and difficult to build, fuel, maintain, and operate, and that their electricity would likely cost more than solar paired with battery energy storage, pointing instead to what he calls the “enormous, free fusion reactor in the sky.” The Fusion Report agrees with him on several counts: one gigawatt of solar plus BESS takes 2-4 years to permit, develop, and build, against 3-6 years for a 1GW natural gas plant and 10-15 years for a 1GW nuclear plant, and commercial fusion still carries unresolved risks around materials durability, tritium breeding and fuel supply, component replacement, construction cost, and regulatory requirements. Where the analysis diverges is geography and infrastructure: a number of sources estimate that a gigawatt of solar in highly favorable areas needs between 5,000 and 10,000 acres, land is typically leased at $500-$2,000 per acre per year, and transmission lines from a site 20 to 50 miles from an urban center can reach close to a billion dollars. With the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook putting solar at roughly 20% of US generation by 2050, brownfield conversions at retiring coal and fission sites would likely roughly double the opportunities for commercial fusion plants, which carry grid access and local workforce advantages. Against average US power prices of $0.18/kWh and stronger near-term utility interest in small modular fission reactors, the article argues that fusion’s real contest is schedule and geography rather than solar itself.
